Charlie Rollins and son Mark Rollins with dog Sydney on a health ride at Oak Island.

New knees, the more the merrier

"Like father, like son," and, if you are a Rollins, that saying could include "like brother and like uncle." The need for knee replacement surgery, that is.

"It runs in our family," laughs Dosher Director of Plant Operations, Mark Rollins, referring to his uncle and brother who've had four knee replacement surgeries between them. Now Mark and his father, Charlie, have joined the family new-knee club. They recently had their own successful knee replacement surgeries within a few months of each other. Both were at Dosher's award-winning OR and performed by the same physician, Michael Marushack, MD.

"He did an excellent job. It was the first time for both of us. It was a quick recovery and we are doing great," Mark says.

Mark and Charlie chose to have total knee replacements rather than "partial knee" procedures. Replacement is pursued only when all other options such as medications, pain injections, and supportive devices stop working.

"We waited too long. We were both in quite a bit of pain. When it starts affecting your lifestyle, that's the time to really get serious about it," Mark says.

He and his father quickly discovered that getting through surgery was relatively minor compared to the six weeks of physical therapy that followed.

"This is no easy recovery, but they both wanted to get better. They both are hard workers and wanted to get back to the things they like to do, and were willing to push themselves in therapy," Dosher Physical Therapist Scott Passingham says.

Charlie had his left knee replaced; Mark, the right.

"One of our primary concerns after any joint replacement surgery is the development of scar tissue," Passingham says.

The PT department uses specialized equipment for physical therapy to stretch, strengthen and improve range of motion in the knee to prevent scar tissue from becoming an issue.

PT was a win for Charlie and Mark. Charlie, 89, is back on his bike and kayak, while Mark recently returned from a 2,000-mile motorcycle ride along the east coast with his new knee.

"It worked great. It's wonderful to be out of pain," Mark says.

Dosher is a two-time national award winner for operation room safety and earns consistently high patient satisfaction scores.

The Physical Therapy department is on the second floor of the hospital and is staffed by therapists with post-graduate degrees, a doctorate in physical therapy, and a McKenzie-certified therapist.

"I tell every knee replacement patient, 'You are going to have pain you might not be expecting. You have to push through that pain so you can improve your knee,'" Passingham says.

Editor's note: Other physicians on the Dosher Medical Staff who perform total joint replacements are (alphabetically) Dr. Chad Fortun, Dr. Thomas Kelso, Dr. Eric Lescault, and Dr. Craig Lippe. Read more about them at www.Dosher.org/Doctors.